New money- and timesaving European
Enforcement Order enables civil justice claims to be quickly and efficiently
enforced throughout the EU

Since 21 October 2005 a judgement concerning uncontested claims obtained in
one Member State is enforceable in any other Member State, without having to go
through intermediate steps, the so called exequatur procedure.

Before this date, a foreign judgement in this matter was not automatically
enforceable in another Member State. To this effect, the judgement creditor had
to enter a special procedure called exequatur, which allows the foreign
judgement to be enforced. In addition, the exequatur decision is submitted to
the possibility of appeal, which is a contradiction in terms in regard to
uncontested claims because, if a debtor has not contested the debt during the
original proceedings, it is nonsense to permit this at the moment of the
enforcement abroad. Consequently, if exequatur must be obtained enforcement of
judgements abroad is delayed and it is costly and often rendered ineffective. As
a result, the exequatur procedure, especially in the specific field of
uncontested claims, obstructs without any reason the free movement of judgements
and renders decisions subject to a territorial notion of justice that is
inappropriate in a Community environment.

Background

The European Council called for a further reduction in intermediate measures
needed for enforcement of foreign judgments at Tampere in October 1999. In
November 2000, the Council adopted a programme of measures for implementation of
the principle of mutual recognition of decisions in civil and commercial
matters. The aim was to abolish all procedures needed for the enforceability of
judgments in civil and commercial matters. It has been decided to proceed
gradually, beginning with a very specific pilot project - the abolition of the
exequatur procedure for uncontested claims, which represents the largest
category of claims.

That has led to the Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 adopted by the European
Parliament and the Council on the 21 October 2004 and which created a European
enforcement order for uncontested claims. On 21 October 2005 this Regulation has
entered into application.

The Regulation aims at implementing the principle of the free circulation of
judgements and represents also the first time that the co-decision procedure is
applied in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters.

The new Regulation

It dispenses, under certain conditions, with all intermediary measures in the
Member State in which enforcement is sought in cases where the defendant has not
contested the nature or extent of a debt. The conditions for abolishing
exequatur mainly concern the service of documents in the case of judgments by
default. Abolishing exequatur will enable creditors to obtain quick and
efficient enforcement abroad without involving the courts in the Member State
where enforcement is applied for through time-consuming and costly
formalities.

The Regulation applies to “uncontested claims” so that in order
for a creditor to obtain a European Enforcement Order the defendant either has
to agree to the debt in court proceedings or not appear in court when the claim
is heard.

A judgment that has been certified as a European Enforcement Order by the
court of origin should, for enforcement purposes, be treated as if it had been
delivered by a court in the Member State in which enforcement is sought.

Obviously, the abolition of any checks in the Member State of enforcement is
inextricably linked to and dependent upon the existence of a sufficient
guarantee of observance of the rights of the defence. For this reason, the
Regulation has established minimum standards for the proceedings leading to the
judgment in order to ensure that the debtor is informed about the court action
against him, the requirements for his active participation in the proceedings to
contest the claim and the consequences of his non-participation in sufficient
time and in such a way as to enable him to arrange for his defence.

This Regulation does not imply an obligation for the Member States to adapt
their national legislation to the minimum procedural standards set out herein.
It provides an incentive to that end by making available a more efficient and
rapid enforceability of judgments in other Member States only if those minimum
standards are met.

The European Enforcement Order is a voluntary procedure: the creditor may
also choose the system of recognition and enforcement under Regulation (EC) No
44/2001 (the so-called Brussels I Regulation) or other Community
instruments.